★★★★★ Bullet the Blue Sky

Howl and Other Poems

Allen Ginsberg

There's a reason that Wikipedia says "Howl" is considered to be one of the great works of American literature." That reason is not exactly the reason I listened to it, but I agree with the judgment.

I listened to Howl and Other Poems because I am taking a Poetry Writing course at the local community college. Our first reading assignment was Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet, of which I have a very low opinion. "Howl" was the second assignment, and it makes up for The Prophet with room to spare. Allen Ginsberg's Howl and Other Poems is one of those famous "slim volumes of poetry". Indeed, it is the slimmest I have yet encountered, which makes it better than all the rest, right? I was pleased to discover that it was available in audio format (59 min), read by Ginsberg himself. The audio edition is not exactly the same as the Kindle edition. For instance, it begins with "Europe, Europe", which appears to be absent from the Kindle version. "America", which is present in both, is read before a live audience in the audio version, and their laughter punctuates it.

"Howl" itself is indescribable. It is a stream of sound, ideas, and images pounding into your ears. It is not gentle -- indeed, Ginsberg was tried for obscenity. 'Judge Clayton W. Horn ruled that "Howl" was not obscene, asking: "Would there be any freedom of press or speech if one must reduce his vocabulary to vapid innocuous euphemisms?"'. Ginsberg himself clearly was no friend to "vapid innocuous euphemisms". Indeed, perhaps the best description I can give of "Howl" is that it as far from "vapid innocuous euphemism" as one can easily imagine.

As I listened to "Howl", I was reminded of the U2 song Bullet the Blue Sky. The U2 song is sanitized compared to "Howl", but has much the same "This is the real America" vibe.

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